Madurai (Tamil Nadu), April 2 A district court on Thursday deferred the announcement of the sentence for nine police personnel convicted in the sensational 2020 Sathankulam custodial death case, in which a father and son died while in police custody, to April 6.
Madurai First Additional District Court Judge Muthukumaran reserved the order on sentencing after hearing intense arguments from the CBI, the defense, and the emotional appeals made by the victims' family members.
The nine convicted police officers – Inspector Sridhar, Sub-Inspectors Balakrishnan and Raghu Ganesh, and police personnel Murugan, Samadurai, Muthuraja, Chelladurai, Thomas Francis, and Veilumuthu – were produced before the judge amid tight security.
Describing the brutal custodial torture and the subsequent deaths of traders P Jayaraj and his son J Bennicks as the "rarest of rare" cases, the CBI counsel pressed for the maximum penalty of a death sentence or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The prosecution argued that the horrific nature of the crime, supported by the testimonies of three direct eyewitnesses, shocked the collective conscience of society. Highlighting the grave human rights violation, the CBI noted that the victims were subjected to merciless beatings with weapons, warranting the highest degree of punishment.
Jayaraj and Bennicks were taken into custody by the Sathankulam police in Thoothukudi district on June 19, 2020, for allegedly violating Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. Both succumbed to grievous injuries sustained during brutal police torture, triggering widespread nationwide outrage.
The CBI took over the investigation and filed a primary chargesheet of 2,027 pages and a supplementary chargesheet of 400 pages. Over 100 witnesses were examined during the trial, which spanned more than five years.
